drrich2
Contributor
Hi:
I'm mainly a coral reef diver, but I like wrecks and have gotten to dive a few here and there out of Key Largo and various Caribbean destinations. Most of them have something disturbing in common; they're really deep. Granted, 'real' wrecks (e.g.: ship goes down in war time from a torpedo) sink wherever they got hit, some wrecks are planned for artificial wrecks, and even they tend to be deep. Which limits NDL on air, MOD with nitrox EAN 32 may keep you shallower than you'd rather go, we go through gas fast due to pressure at those depths, and a number of divers would need AOW or Deep Diver cert.s before a given op. would take them to some wrecks.
What really got me thinking about this months ago was diving the wreck(age) of the Benwood out of Key Largo. I was either told or read somewhere that the military used it in the past for some sort of bombing practice; it had been deemed a 'navigation hazard.'
What does that mean? That ships whose hull goes deep might hit it, I suppose?
Or let's take the Oriskany, which I've never dove (but hope to someday as a novelty, since I was born in Pensacola, Fl). That was a planned sinking to make an artificial reef, but that sucker is deep, and from what I understand a long boat ride to reach. I'm a rec. diver; even if I rent a steel 120 or two & someone get EAN 28 to max. me out at NDL within recreational dive limits, I won't touch the main (flight deck?), and it won't be a long dive.
But my main question is, what's the minimum depth that a planned wreck can be sunk at (I mean, how shallow can the upper part of the wreck be, more so than what depth is the sea bed it rests on)? And at what depth would it be deemed some sort of hazard & bombed or what-have-you?
Richard.
P.S.: For comparison, I dove the Butler Bay wrecks not far off shore of St. Croix back in January; not so deep.
I'm mainly a coral reef diver, but I like wrecks and have gotten to dive a few here and there out of Key Largo and various Caribbean destinations. Most of them have something disturbing in common; they're really deep. Granted, 'real' wrecks (e.g.: ship goes down in war time from a torpedo) sink wherever they got hit, some wrecks are planned for artificial wrecks, and even they tend to be deep. Which limits NDL on air, MOD with nitrox EAN 32 may keep you shallower than you'd rather go, we go through gas fast due to pressure at those depths, and a number of divers would need AOW or Deep Diver cert.s before a given op. would take them to some wrecks.
What really got me thinking about this months ago was diving the wreck(age) of the Benwood out of Key Largo. I was either told or read somewhere that the military used it in the past for some sort of bombing practice; it had been deemed a 'navigation hazard.'
What does that mean? That ships whose hull goes deep might hit it, I suppose?
Or let's take the Oriskany, which I've never dove (but hope to someday as a novelty, since I was born in Pensacola, Fl). That was a planned sinking to make an artificial reef, but that sucker is deep, and from what I understand a long boat ride to reach. I'm a rec. diver; even if I rent a steel 120 or two & someone get EAN 28 to max. me out at NDL within recreational dive limits, I won't touch the main (flight deck?), and it won't be a long dive.
But my main question is, what's the minimum depth that a planned wreck can be sunk at (I mean, how shallow can the upper part of the wreck be, more so than what depth is the sea bed it rests on)? And at what depth would it be deemed some sort of hazard & bombed or what-have-you?
Richard.
P.S.: For comparison, I dove the Butler Bay wrecks not far off shore of St. Croix back in January; not so deep.